Linux on the desktop

Are you looking at Linux on the desktop?
We are very focused on Linux in the data center and Linux as a server platform. Linux as a desktop environment isnt where we focus a lot of attention.

Amazon is a very large, technology-strong company. What would you say about Linux to a smaller company without the technical depth of Amazon?

First of all, in terms of commitment, this is our business, and our business is on Linux, and that reflects a certain confidence. Second, think about vendor support; the vendors that matter most to us are very committed to Linux.
Which vendor is your most important partner?
Probably the most important partner of ours is Oracle.

Are you considering the Oracle grid model of computing?
Its something that we definitely are going to be looking at very hard. It really fits the model of where we are going in our thinking about how we operate our technology platform. We are very focused on managing our complete resources as well as using standardized resources that are very easily redeployable and balanced.
You are also focused on expanding and extending Amazons capabilities as a development platform. What is the next step?
Go to amazon.com/webservices. Youll be able to download the tool kit, but youll also find what this is about, why we are doing this [and] what the benefits are; youll find some links to examples of some things that people have done with Web services. Deeper integration to our site is something that is tremendously beneficial to our associates and to us.
What technology constraints are you facing?
We find that one of the biggest constraints for Amazon is developer bandwidth. We are very aggressive in hiring developers all the time, and we continue to be hiring, but you can never have sufficient bandwidth to present [Amazon] in all the diverse interfaces. Its very useful to leverage these thousands of [associate company] developers that have downloaded the SDK [software development kit] to present our data in unique ways that we wouldnt have dreamt of.